Solidarity in Sinaloa: Journalists, others address crisis

A unified front is crucial when facing a crisis in press
freedom like that in the violent state of Sinaloa in Mexico, Colombian
journalist and CPJ board member María Teresa Ronderos said this week. She was
speaking to a packed room of print, radio, and television reporters; members of
civil society groups; state legislators; union leaders; human rights activists;
and even ordinary citizens, who had gathered for a discussion on the press in
one of Mexico's most dangerous cities, Culiacán.

The occasion on Tuesday was the ninth anniversary
celebration of the weekly Ríodoce,
one of the few publications in Sinaloa that covers in-depth the
narcotraffickers who operate in the region, as well as the launch of CPJ's
annual report, Attacks on the Press.
More than 120 people gathered at the Hotel San Marcos, in downtown Culiacán,
which is the base of the Sinaloa cartel, one of the most powerful drug
trafficking organizations.

A video showcasing the dangers for local journalists who
report on drug trafficking and organized crime, using statistics compiled by
CPJ, was introduced by Alejandro Sicairos, Ríodoce's
deputy director. It included the most recent Sinaloa murder case: that of
Humberto Millán Salazar, a reporter shot to death in this city in August 2011.
Millán was the host of a show on Radio Fórmula, and ran and wrote a column for
the news website A Discusión. His
killing, as most crimes against the press here, remains unsolved. Impunity and
lack of political will to investigate crimes against the press only aggravates
the already steep challenges that journalists face while covering organized
crime and corruption, Sicairos noted.

Solidarity with journalists working under these conditions --
not only in Culiacán and Sinaloa but throughout the region, where the press
works without safety guarantees in extremely dangerous areas - is the reason
why CPJ decided to launch our report in Sinaloa, I told the crowd. I reiterated
that the problem of violence has gone way beyond the press and is affecting the
fundamental rights of all Mexicans, undermining democratic stability. The
federal government, I added, must take responsibility for a national crisis
that is endangering democracy.

Mike O'Connor, CPJ's Mexico representative, noted that as
organized crime takes over more and more territory, incapacitating the local
press in the process and denying citizens their right to be informed. The
Mexican people are becoming more and more misinformed about vital issues that
impact their daily lives, O'Connor said, adding that the government of
President Felipe Calderon has failed
to implement effective reforms to address violence against the press.

Meanwhile, criminal elements have embraced a new high-tech
capability which CPJ sees being used all across the world to silence the
press, said CPJ's Internet advocacy coordinator, Danny O'Brien, noting the
devastating denial
of service attack against Ríodoce
in November. "I know from experience that Ríodoce's
voice is heard around the world. But if its website is silenced, there is no Ríodoce to read in the United States or
Venezuela, or in Spain. And that is as damaging as stopping the presses right
here in Culiacán," O'Brien said.

Ronderos, drawing on her experiences in Colombia, offered a
message of hope and some practical recommendations for minimizing risk and fear
and for combating impunity. She urged journalists to protect their lives and
those of their colleagues. No story is worth the life of a reporter, she said.
Journalists should develop strategies for protection; pinpoint someone who
knows how to react in emergencies; and seek psychological support to handle
fear and cope with the trauma of daily witnessing victims of violence. Journalists
must build alliances with reliable people, even if that just means with each
other, Ronderos said. They must denounce every threat and press authorities to
fight impunity, and in the case of murdered journalists, investigate and push
for justice.

Emphasizing the importance of the media, journalists groups,
and civil society forming a unified front, Ronderos said they must press the
message that the current violence is totally unacceptable. "Journalists are not
claiming privileges, Ronderos said. If the press cannot do its work, she added,
entire cities "will turn the lights off," fundamental rights will be waived and
criminal organizations prevail.

And what can ordinary people do to support the work of the
media in the context of violence? This key question came from a citizen after
our presentation. In unanimous response, we said that citizens in Sinaloa must
be fully aware that local journalists are risking their lives to provide them
with information that will allow them to make decisions on many of the critical
issues affecting their lives. They must urge authorities to promote a climate
in which journalists can do their jobs without fear of reprisal, we said.

Tuesday's event followed a day of meetings between the CPJ
delegation, human rights activists, radio and television journalists, and the
two largest dailies in the area, El
Debate and Noroeste. We
also met with Sinaloa State Prosecutor Marco Antonio Higuera Gomez, who tried
to assure us that his office is working hard to solve crimes against
journalists -- but had nothing to show in terms of successful prosecutions, a
common pattern in most Mexican states. The chief prosecutor said that violence
has lessened recently and that the state has an average of 120 murders per
month, down from 200 in 2010. But Higuera acknowledged that infiltration from
organized crime is a concern. In fact, he admitted that on many occasions he
doesn't tell his own security detail where they are going until the last
minute.

(Reporting from
Culiacán, Sinaloa, Mexico)

CPJ Senior Americas Program Coordinator Carlos Lauría, a native of Buenos Aires, is a widely published journalist who has written extensively for Noticias, the leading Spanish-language newsmagazine.
Follow him on Facebook @ CPJ en Español.